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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Today marked the first morning where drivers were forced to deal with the closure of the inbound Liberty Tunnel.

For many, it was a nightmare commute.

The closure created congestion all over the place this morning.

“It’s taken me like a half hour to go like two miles. So, it’s kind of backed up quite a bit,” Riley Myers said.

“It took me about an hour-and-20-minutes just to get to the tubes here from Monongahela area. So, it’s not a whole lot of fun. I’ve been sitting in this traffic for probably the last 40 minutes now,” Mike Necciai said.

Drivers were forced to sit and wait as Routes 51 and 19 were packed.

“I don’t know how long the tunnel is going to be closed, but it definitely puts a damper on getting down to Carson Street, that’s for sure,” Anna Montecalvo said.

The inbound side of the tunnel closed at 8 p.m. Tuesday.

It’s scheduled to be shut down, around the clock, for 16 days. It is scheduled to reopen at 6 a.m. on Aug. 22.

Crews have already started painting the inside of the tunnel. It’s the same work that prompted a full closure on the outbound side last month.

“Pittsburgh is like that all the time though. No matter where you turn in this city, something is being messed up, roads being fixed. It’s incredible, just love this city,” Paul Stajduhar said.

The detour for the tunnel closure takes drivers onto the Parkway West and then through the Fort Pitt Tunnel.

However, PennDOT is encouraging people to find alternate routes altogether.